Nine thousand children from 52 countries have arrived in Israel since last October, Moshe Kol, head of the Youth Aliyah, announced today. New centers which will house about 100 children each in 25 settlements will be established by the Youth Aliyah to relieve a shortage in accommodations, he said.
Mr. Kol also declared that since immigration from eastern Europe is being out, the Youth Aliyah is presently concentrating on bringing in children from North Africa and other Arab countries. He further stressed the important contributions of youth to agricultural pioneering in Israel, noting that 75 percent of the young people who settled on the land in the last year were from the Youth Aliyah.
In discussing the children who were still in foreign lands, Mr. Kol cited the Polish Government’s opposition to emigration of children who are still living with non-Jewish families. The many new arrivals are from Bulgaria, Turkey, Malaya, China, India, Ecuador and Uruguay, he said, adding that of 8,000 children now in transit camps only 250 are 14 years of age or more, which puts a great burden on available funds.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.